Biographical Data :

Name :

Tikka Khan

Period :

1915 - 2002

Biographical detail :

Soldier. Former Chief of Staff of the Pakistan Army was best known for his repressive and ruthless tenure as governor of East Pakistan, the part of Pakistan, which in 1971 declared itself to become Bangladesh.

Commissioned into 2nd Field Regiment Artillery of the British Indian Army in 1939 after graduating from Indian Military Academy at Dehra Dun, Tikka Khan served during the Second World War in the North African campaign. He was also in action in Italy and Burma. Following the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947, he joined Pakistani Army and was promoted to major-general in 1962 and lieutenant-general in 1969.

Operation Searchlight, as it was called, under the overall authority of Tikka Khan, was the beginning of the end of Pakistani rule in the east. Tikka Khan was reviled as the Butcher of Bengal and his authority of operational control over troops was replaced though he remained marshal law administrator and governor until the end of August 1971. Though, in 1972, Tikka Khan was promoted to the rank of general and chief of army staff but his appointment was too controversial and later he retired from the army in 1976. He went into political life as adherent of Bhutto and was one time head of Pakistan People’s Party.